ioana alfonso
Ioana, or "io" as her friends affectionately call her, has worked extensively in the performing arts both on stage and in film/television. She started dancing at the age of four and by the age of 15 was working professionally as assistant to Mia Michaels (of “So You Think You Can Dance”) while attending New World School of the Arts, a performing arts high school. She has assisted Ms. Michaels on numerous projects including pre-production for “Madonna: Drowned World Tour”, “Celine Dion’s ‘New Day’”, setting works on concert dance companies, teaching, etc. She attended New York University’s conservatory program, Tisch School of the Arts, where she received her BFA in 3 years including a summer abroad in Salzburg, Austria (SEAD). She also attended Jacob’s Pillow on full scholarship twice, where she performed works by Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham. Her dance training ranges from ballet to hip-hop, and it is this versatility that has allowed her to work in all genres. As a perfomer Ioana has not only worked professionally as a dancer, but also has been able to transition into acting, voice overs (English and Spanish), teaching, and directing/choreographing. Highlights include: Broadway- “Wicked” (original cast), “9 to 5” (original cast as Maria Delgado), “Saturday Night Fever” (Shirley, 1st Nat’l tour), Off-Broadway- “The Crying Woman” (Irma (Lead role), World Premier, Beckett Theater), Film- “Going the Distance” (with Drew Barrymore), “Across the Universe” (Dir: Julie Taymor), “The Wackness”. Television: “Law and Order (SVU)” in the guest star role of Laura Santiago, “Saturday Night Live” with Kanye West, etc. She was a New York Knicks City Dancer and has worked with Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, etc. Ioana was also an original founding member of Mia Michaels R.A.W. and of dre.dance company. Most recently, she can be heard in voice overs for K-mart, Canon, and CareFirst, and has four national commercials running simultaneously for “Olive Garden”, “Walgreens”, “Cricket” and “Dunkin Donuts”. Equally important to her, Ms.Alfonso works with charitable organizations such as Artists Striving to End Poverty, R.Evolucion Latina, The African Children’s Choir and NYCares in order to use the arts as a tool to empower individuals. She was also recently named Artistic Supervisor of the Mark Stuart Dance Company.